


The Tale of Tenalla

by tyrellia



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Deliberate Values Dissonance, Gen, I’ll probably have to go back and edit it all when it’s done, Not In Chronological Order, or just make a new one, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28528176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrellia/pseuds/tyrellia
Summary: 7,300 years before the opening of the Dark Portal, Tenalla Dawnstrider of House Tyrellian served as a cavalry officer and scout under Dath’remar Sunstrider, seeking a new home for the exiled Highborne.Translated by Jossan Dawnheart, historian and anthropologist.“Excerpts” from the Prose Tale of Tenalla, a pseudo-historical account of the exploits of the semi-legendary founder of House Tyrellian.I may include snippets of the Poetic Tale, too. Since it’s inspired by pseudo-historical poems and epics from antiquity (Homer, the Bible, etc), expect heavy propaganda and values dissonance. Written in a deliberately archaic style Because I Can.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. The Dire Troll (fragment)

And Maravar with his lance was at her right hand, and Anora with her lance was at her left hand, and Alarys with her bow was at her back. None were before her, for the Lady of the Lances suffered none to stand between her and her foe. 

So it was that bright-eyed Tenalla rode in amongst the throng, laying about her with the Herald of Morning and wreaking great slaughter. The Herald of Morning blazed with eldritch fire as Tenalla valiantly strove against her foe, and they quailed before her. Savagery alone bade the trolls to stand and fight; for all their fierceness, they could not stand against Tenalla and her Two-Score Lances. Axe and spear and bolt were foiled by silver mail, and neither fur nor bestial troll-hide could turn the bright lances and furious sword-strokes of the Highborne. 

At last, when it seemed they must soon break, a dark shadow fell across the field. The champion of the Chief of the savages was at hand, and fear darkened the hearts of noble elf and tusked troll alike, save for one who stood before it. The Cavaliers of Tenalla quailed at so great a foe, for they were already weary from battle and long days of riding in pursuit of their quarry, only to face a stone-fisted giant at the last. Only Maravar did not shy from his Lady’s side as she rode ahead of her host, taking from her her helm as she made her challenge, so her foe might look upon her face. 

“Let us fight, you and I!” cried bright-eyed Tenalla. “And let the soldiers of the vanquished be driven before the victor, as lambs to the slaughter.”

And lo, the beast did roar, rearing high upon its hind legs to a terrible height, for like apes dire trolls drag their knuckles along the ground. In its hand was an axe, not of stone but of steel, and it gleamed with deadly intent. 

Then it was upon her, bestial fury raining blows like the vengeance of some heathen god. By degrees Tenalla smote it, cleaving muscle and sinew, for the hide and bones of a dire troll are as a hauberk in defense. When at last the beast fell to its ruined knees, Tenalla struck out its eye and pierced its brain-pan. 

Seeing the corpse of their mighty Chief at peerless Tenalla’s foot, the trolls took to flight in blind terror, unheeding of their kin ridden down beneath the hooves and bright swords of the furious Lances of the Lady, set to rout before the might of those tall and valiant riders...


	2. The Coming of Dath’remar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Highborne land on the Eastern Kingdoms for the first time, establishing cordial (if condescending) relations with the more primitive human tribes living there and settling in a cursed region the humans knew better than to live in. Woops. 
> 
> Tenalla begins her quest.

After many years of wandering the sundered Sea, Dath’remar came at last to the shores of a great island in the Far East, where great trees towered Azsharanesque. There he found a primitive people, and they fled before him. 

When at last the humans returned it was behind the standards of their greatest chiefs, bearing such gifts that their people could fashion, so awesome by the majesty of the Highborne that they thought radiant Dath’remar to be a god, or a blessed child of their deific Holy Light. Graciously the Sun King accepted their gifts, but bade them to return to their woodland altars, and pay him only the tribute due to a ruler of his grandeur. The chiefs told mighty Dath’remar the name of their land, Tirisfal, and did homage to him and hailed him lord and king of so much land as he saw fit to claim for his people. Open-handed Dath’remar gave them rich robes of silk and gleaming helms and bright coats of mail as gifts, and thus forged was peace everlasting between the woodsmen of Tirisfal and the people of the Sun. 

The king’s mage-priests declared that these things were a sign, a blessing from the Eternal Sun that its throne in the east was would be their home in this new world.

Alas, all was not well. Beneath the foolish superstitions of mankind there lay a seed of truth, for on the Sun King’s domain there lay a curse older than memory, before even the seaborne savages remembered dreamlike in the tales of man’s squalling infancy laid eyes on those ill-fortunes shores. For many years the mighty spells of the Highborne and the grace of the blessed Sun stood sentry over the gloried people of Sun-favored Dath’remar, but before the thrice-great grandchildren of the gentle sons and daughters of the humble chiefs of the first welcome saw the first years of feebleness a sickness had taken hold among the elven settlers that even the high priest of the Court of the Sun could not cure, and the glorious Sun-children withered. Never again would they be gods among men, and as their stature diminished and their flesh paled the Tirisfalen came to see them not as the dreadful and divine kindred of gods, but as mere forest spirits possessed of wizardry beyond their ken. Glorious Dath’remar, unrivaled in courtesy, unmatched in splendor, accepted this with forebearance and good humor, and by his will his people would be known forevermore in the human tongue as the High Elves. 

The Sun King called his most trusty and beloved retainers into his presence, for there could no longer be a home among the quickling children of the forest. Giving such gifts to the Tirisfalen as he had given the forebears in friendship, radiant Dath’remar departed with all his people, sending forth his retainers to find a new land in which to settle.

To each captain was appointed forty lances, mounted on steeds bred from mighty local beasts called [i]caval[/i] by the Tirisfalen,[1] for their nightsabers had sickened and perished at sea. From the King’s own household was appointed Tenalla Tyrellian, who had earned his favor in the War of the Ancients as an officer of his Highguard and been gifted a runeblade from the royal smithy that she named the Herald of Dawn in homage to her lord.

So it was that bold Tenalla led her Two-Score Lances into the East, seeking the Sun’s cradle as it blazed crimson defiance of the grave awaiting it in the West. 

And she took the name Dawnstrider, for she would she would herald the coming of honored Dath’remar as the dawn heralds the coming of the Sun. [2]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] An archaic term for horse, probably related to Old Stromic [i]caballus.[/i] With the exception of this passage, the original text uses the Old Thalassian word for horse throughout. Tyrellian chroniclers likely intended to emphasize the novelty of elven cavalry mounted on native Lordaeronian horses at the time, and Tenalla’s role in their introduction to Thalassian military doctrine. Notably, the traditional household troops of the House Tyrellian are called the Cavalier Guard in Common.
> 
> [2] This affectation was largely ignored by her contemporaries, and when she was ennobled for her campaigns south of the Elrendar, she was created Lady of Tyrellian. The moniker lives on as the surname of her descendants, but the Heads of House Tyrellian and their spouses adopt the House name upon succession. If Tenalla lived today, her full name would be Tenalla Dawnstrider Tyrellian.
> 
> —OOC—  
> I like to use Latin for Old Stromic, since the early Arathorian Empire is analogous to the Roman Empire, and is treated as such by most people in my RP community. Latin was the ecclesiastical language for the Church of Light back in WC I, so it isn’t totally baseless.
> 
> [i]Caval[/i] is, indeed, the word for horse in some archaic Romance languages such as Dalmatian and Old Occitan. It’s cognate to Old French [i]cheval[/i] and Late Latin [i]caballus[/i]. My take here is that instead of the language family being spread by the Empire, at least some of the human tribes spoke closely related languages to begin with. 
> 
> Since in-game languages are randomly generated gibberish, I don’t feel constrained to follow actual Common linguistics (such as they are) too closely. Fight me.

**Author's Note:**

> From the notes of Jossan Dawnheart:
> 
> Arit’durore, rendered in Common as “Herald of Morning,” is the ancestral runeblade of House Tyrellian. While Tenalla is the most famous wielder, it was forged for one of her ancestors and has seen sporadic use by her descendants, who traditionally wield it only in defense of the family seat; it is usually kept safe in Tenalla’s crypt. 
> 
> High elves of antiquity regarded trolls as little more than hostile animals. This is reflected in the consistent use of “it” and bestial characteristics when referring to trolls.


End file.
